How to cherry pick only changes to certain files in git ?

When using Git, the cherry-pick operation typically refers to applying a specific commit from one branch to the current branch. However, Git's native cherry-pick operation targets the entire commit and does not directly allow selecting specific file changes.

However, we can achieve selecting only certain file changes indirectly through a series of steps. Here is a possible solution:

1. Create a temporary branch: To avoid affecting the current branch's state, first create a temporary branch and cherry-pick the target commit onto it.

2. Cherry-pick the commit: Execute the cherry-pick operation on the temporary branch to apply the target commit to it.

3. Checkout specific files: Use the git checkout or git restore command to checkout the required files from the temporary branch into the working directory.

4. Commit the changes: Add these file changes as a new commit to the original branch.

5. Cleanup: If needed, delete the temporary branch to maintain repository cleanliness.

Here are the specific command examples:

bash
# 1. Create a new temporary branch from the current branch
git checkout -b temp-branch

# 2. Cherry-pick the specific commit to the temporary branch
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

# 3. Checkout the required files from the temporary branch to the working directory
git checkout temp-branch -- path/to/file1 path/to/file2

# Alternatively, use git restore (Git 2.23 and above)
 git restore --source temp-branch -- path/to/file1 path/to/file2

# 4. Commit these file changes to the current working branch
 git commit -m "Cherry-pick specific files from <commit-hash>"

# 5. Switch back to the original branch and delete the temporary branch
 git checkout original-branch
 git branch -d temp-branch

Please note that this method works for simple changes. However, if the cherry-picked commit contains complex dependencies or interrelated changes across multiple files, selecting only certain files may lead to conflicts or inconsistent code. In such cases, manual resolution is required to ensure code cleanliness and stability.